Four charged in plot to blow up JFK airport

By Chris Michaud

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Four people, including a former member of Guyana's parliament, have been charged with planning to blow up New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, U.S. officials said on Saturday.

This was "one of the most chilling plots imaginable," Roslynn Mauskopf, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said at a news conference in New York. "The devastation that would be caused ... is just unthinkable."

The plotters sought to blow up the airport's jet fuel tanks and part of the 40-mile (64-km) pipeline feeding them from New Jersey. Three of the four suspects, who included a former airline cargo handler, have been arrested, federal law enforcement officials said.

In a recorded conversation one suspect predicted there would be few survivors and that the attacks would result in the destruction of "the whole of Kennedy."

There was no connection to al Qaeda, officials said, but some suspects were linked to an Islamist extremist group in Trinidad.

In one recorded conversation, a suspect compared the plot to the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center, saying, "Even the twin towers can't touch it." He added, "This can destroy the economy of America for some time."

The indictment said the suspects referred to their plot as "the chicken farm" or "the chicken hatchery" but did not explain the code name.

News of the foiled plot comes weeks after six suspected Islamist militants were detained on charges of planning to attack a U.S. Army base at Fort Dix in New Jersey.